The Shape of Work

#43: Ryan Gormley on rethinking post-pandemic employee engagement, remote team management, and HR policies

July 27, 2021 Springworks Season 1 Episode 43
The Shape of Work
#43: Ryan Gormley on rethinking post-pandemic employee engagement, remote team management, and HR policies
Show Notes

In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, Springworks' Product Manager, Nisarg Shah talks to Ryan Gormley, Head of People at Nylas - a productivity infrastructure for modern software. Ryan strongly believes in diversity and loves to innovate. His previous stints include working for organizations like Slack, Symantec and Earnin.

Ryan shares a few of his experiences and ideas on keeping up with the forced transformation in training and managing remote teams, implementing work-life balance within the workspace, and rethinking HR policies. He also highlights some effective ways that he used to engage the team at Nylas in the remote work environment.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

Impact of the pandemic on the way of work:

Ryan is a strong proponent of employee freedom and autonomy . When people are more comfortable working from home, forcefully calling them in the office is micromanaging. Before having a workspace, an organization needs to know about the intent behind it.

He feels that a hybrid workplace will provide better performance by offering better talent from every corner of the world. For high performing teams, hybrid work is necessary. As long as the work is getting done, people should have the freedom to arrange their day’s schedule. This calls for a more output-focused mindset. He explains that there is a difference between work and office.You can have a smaller workspace for the office people to interact.

Giving the employees the freedom and responsibility of structuring their routine is going to retain them. For this purpose, an organization needs to have the value of trust.

Shift in the compensation policies:

There is going to be a real shift in the compensation policies of different companies. Ryan talks about companies like Microsoft, Twitter, and his company where they choose to give their people the option and the choice. This will pave the way towards better employee retention. According to him, people are craving for more flexibility. Many talents might leave their organizations if the hybrid model is changed. Compensation takes time to shift. It is important to understand that compensation is not the cost of living, but the cost of labour. It is the market rate for the job you do and the location you do it in. There might be a shortage of jobs in a location. But if there is a high demand for the skill set, the pay will increase based on that supply and demand curve. Ryan personally takes the time to explain compensation to the employees. They attempt to bring equality in terms of compensation. Organizations should inform the employees in higher pay scales when they will not be receiving a raise for a specific time period. Transparency makes these tasks seamless.

Advice to young HR professionals:

Ryan gives a valuable piece of advice to the young HR professionals. It does not matter where you come from or which school you went to, if you work hard, you will definitely achieve success. Moreover, be hungry to learn and grow. If you are working in a startup, make yourself comfortable with the ambiguities that will accompany it. You have to be motivated and passionate about working in a startup.

Ryan mentions that he is a lover of travelling. He is grateful to have travelled different parts  of the world, tried different cuisines, and learned different cultures and languages.

Follow Ryan Gormley on LinkedIn

Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Nisarg Shah

BONUS: Managing remote teams is not an easy task. Here is A Guide to Hiring and Managing Remote Teams for you to better manage and engage your team.